The returns of Joel Embiid and Paul George to the Sixers’ lineup could not have gone better. The two combined to account for 63 of the 157 points they hung on the Chicago Bulls, the most the team has scored in a game in 56 years.
While Embiid was on fire right out of the gate, making his first four shots of the night on his way to dropping 15 in the first quarter, George’s night wasn’t as linear. His impact was immediately felt on the other end of the floor, ripping away four steals, but he missed
eight of his first nine field goal attempts.
“I think I was just rushing it,” George said. “Just excited, rushing shots.”
He found his shot as the game would progress. After quietly going 4-of-4 from the field in the third, he took over in the fourth. A sequence of three straight possessions ending with pull-up jumpers from George had both the crowd and the Sixers’ bench on its feet. He would nail one more three after the ensuing Bulls timeout to cap off his 28-point night.
“That was bringing back classic moments,” George said. “My scoring, my bag where I can be explosive as a scorer and put points up quick, that’s just me in the flow.”
Head coach Nick Nurse agreed George just needed to get his feet under him again.
“Just some time. I think you just needed to get the feel back a little bit, and then obviously we just kind of started the half running a couple plays for him. We ran a couple plays out of timeouts. He made all of those,” Nurse said. “It was good. I just think we needed to get him some open looks and kind of everybody knew he was going to shoot them when he came off the screens and things, and that probably helped him get going.”
That stretch was uplifting for both George and his teammates, all of whom have dealt with the ramifications of his 25-game suspension over the last month.
“The team, I think they were very much a part of this as much as I was,” George said. “Going through it, they were excited for me to come back out there.”
VJ Edgecombe was so excited to have George back that as the point guard, he tried to set up George on the first play of the game. The Sixers’ first basket of the night being his own impressive transition layup foiled those specific plans, but Edgecombe is glad to be playing with him again nonetheless.
“I’m just excited for PG,” Edgecombe said. “Everyone knows what he can do when healthy.”
On top of the mental lift his return gave, George also got to test out just how much that 25-game absence helped his body as well. He said it was a help in his first press conference back from the suspension, and confirmed it again after being able to get on the court.
“I felt great,” George said. “So, it definitely helped and because of that, mentally, I just feel like I can play basketball at a high level, and actually feel that I can play at a high level. So, it did a lot for me from a physical standpoint.”
Neither George nor the team would commit to him being available for all nine of the Sixers’ remaining games in the regular season. There are two back-to-backs during this stretch. Despite the lack of commitment, he’s hopeful he can appear in them to help get the Sixers out of Play-In tournament positioning.
“We’re gonna definitely attack it one game at a time, but I want to play, all of these 10,” George said, “[to] give us the best chance to get a good seed, good positioning. So, yeah, if my body is still feeling how I expect it to feel, absolutely.”
The Sixers are currently a half game back of the sixth seed, behind the Toronto Raptors. If the Sixers are able to remain healthy and in high spirits down this stretch, better playoff positioning is still there for the taking.
